Roland TR-808 Drum Machine

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albert_kawmi
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2008/01/29 05:48:06 (permalink)

Roland TR-808 Drum Machine

Hi,

I was lucky enough to pick up an original TR-808 drum machine off eBay! I am still learning to use it and a couple of things are baffling me:

1. It has been retrofitted with MIDI but, as the seller was only a 2nd-hand music store, I have been unable to get any answers about how to work the MIDI and, as such, have no clue how to get it going. Any ideas of how to start an investigation?

2. The individual instrument outputs seem to be at a very low level. The 'master' (mixed) output has both a 'HI' and 'LO' terminal with the HI terminal producing good levels into my mixer and the LO one being far too quiet. It seems that the instrument outputs are also of this LO level. Could it be that these each need a High-impedance input on the mixer? Turning up the gain helps, but it's still too quiet...

3. There is a Roland 'SYNC' DIN plug that is switchable to input/output. Are there products that can translate this into MIDI? I take it this simply transmits/receives tempo information, right?

The sounds on this thing are amazing, but it would be great if I could sequence it from my computer! I really hope to be able to get the MIDI working as this was one of my main reasons for bidding on this thing.

Cheers,

Albert

http://www.myspace.com/nevadabase
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#1

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    Lanceindastudio
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    RE: Roland TR-808 Drum Machine 2008/01/29 07:15:59 (permalink)
    wow gratz how much did ya pay? Dont have answers really. Would be hands on, but man I want an original tr-808!

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    #2
    albert_kawmi
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    RE: Roland TR-808 Drum Machine 2008/02/01 03:40:00 (permalink)
    Heheh, I paid too much! It was also modded with a 6-way tempo selector (that I have no idea how to set the tempos for it!) and, combined with the MIDI mod and the flight case, I found it too good to pass up. Unfortunately, so did everyone else!

    I thought it would be a long shot to get some answers, but worth a try!

    Cheers,

    Albert
    #3
    mwd
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    RE: Roland TR-808 Drum Machine 2008/02/02 11:55:43 (permalink)
    Why not try "instructions for TR-808 midi interface" instruction manual.

    It's gotta' be close.
    #4
    albert_kawmi
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    RE: Roland TR-808 Drum Machine 2008/02/02 13:13:21 (permalink)
    Hi guys,

    Just thought I would let you know that I opened the 808 and found that the retrofit was from 1989. The helpful tech support dug up a really old manual from the archives and emailed it to me but, unfortunately, it seems that I am unable to use the 808 as a sound module as I had been hoping.

    I have managed to get the thing in sync with the PC and have not *yet* experienced any timing issues (though I have only used it for about half an hour).

    Cheers,

    Albert

    http://www.myspace.com/nevadabase
    Pentium Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM, 460GB Hard disk(s)
    Windows XP Home (32-bit), Sonar 7 Producer
    Yamaha 01X, i88X mLAN audio interface
    #5
    Jessie Sammler
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    RE: Roland TR-808 Drum Machine 2008/02/02 16:32:55 (permalink)
    .
    post edited by Jessie Sammler - 2008/07/09 22:57:03
    #6
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